Access Point Router Bottlenecking

[paddymelon]

Hi,

Currently, my network is set up such that I have a fast gigabit router network with my NAS and everything else connected to a 100Mbit gateway router (I have to use the one my ISP gave me, so can't upgrade, unfortunately). In addition to this, the link between the routers is built into my house (hard to change) and a CAT5, so incapable of gigabit.

Currently, the system works fine, as the high-speed transfers I make all happen on that top router. However, I've recently come to the issue that I want to have all my devices on the same subnet (mainly for Airplay and UPnP and so forth) and it's not possible to connect them all to the faster router (based on location). Hence, I was thinking of turning the top router into just an access point.

However, if I do this, will that mean that the devices connected to my quick router will be limited to the slower router, ie: is everything routed back to the slow router (sorry, my networking knowledge of how access points route is sketchy).

Or is there another solution?

In summary:

- Currently: Slow (100mbit) Router -> Fast (1Gbit) Router
- Move to: Slow (100 mbit) Router -> Fast (1Gbit) used in AP Mode
--> Will I suffer a loss of fast routing in the fast Router with AP Mode?

Thanks

 

[bill001g]

I am going to suspect it will have no impact. What exactly were you doing with the "router" part of the fast router. You would have to have been using parental controls or maybe some other form of access control. The true routing part you do not actually want as you have found out with the issues you get with UPnP.

The key to remember is 2 devices in the same subnet..ie in your lan talk to each other directly via MAC addresses. They only use the switch part of either router. The switches in the routers keep track of where the devices are and they very simply switch traffic from port to port. So traffic between 2 device on the fast router will never even go to the main router it will just pass in one port on the switch chip and out the other. this is mostly true for wireless although a little more complex but the key is traffic from the wireless on the new AP will not go to the main router unless it is talking to a device on the main router.

Have you tried to run gig on your cat5 cable. Many times the cable will actually be better than the specification and work on shorter runs.

 

[paddymelon]

Thank you so much. Your second paragraph explained exactly my concern perfectly. Thanks for that .

And I'll give the cable a try but it's fairly long, as it goes from downstairs to upstairs...

Thanks

 

[vnet]

Nevermind. I see what I missed